The Best Gifts for Coffee Lovers, ’Cause the Grind Never Stops

Tea drinkers are cool, but also: How dare you? How are your parched veins even pumping without a firehose-strong flow of robust coffee every morning? (Fine, because you have a healthy relationship with caffeine that we’re totally not jealous of at all.) But damn, if we don’t live for that sweet ambrosia; grinding a fresh arabica blend is our only motivation to rise from the crypt, knowing that a nose bouquet of chocolaty, earthy legal stimulant awaits us. Forgive us our millennial sins as we tattoo this on our chests, but coffee is life. And if someone you’re shopping for this holiday season feels the same way, you’ve come to the right place. 

This is a guide for folks searching for the best gifts for coffee lovers—people who love coffee more than we love Michael Shannon (which is saying a lot), and definitely more than pictures of their coworker’s baby (IDK, it has a weird head). We weigh our beans here, sip on Illy (pinkies out), and keep all our burrs conical. We’re narrowing down the best grinders, coffee gift baskets, French presses, and coffee accessories so you can keep your Beanie Baby brain caffeinated and well-frothed this holiday season. 

Take their tongue through the It’s a Small World ride of coffee beans, with sustainably sourced roasts from over 55 different countries. You’ll build their perfect subscription rotation by answering questions about what flavor notes they enjoy (dirt and sunshine, please), what methods they usually use for brewing their coffee, and what keeps them up at night. Pick a subscription bean package from Trade (ranging from two to nine bags of beans), and your giftee will be able to specify when they receive them (all in one week, spaced out over a few months, etc.). Or, over at Atlas Coffee Club, you can get a bi-weekly or monthly shipment of single origin beans from around the world.

Why is this milk frother so horny?? It’s lowkey seggsy to gift your boo a rod that bubbles their oat milk and gives their latte that ultra-creamy top. 

The Aeropress is the kind of coffee apparatus that probably knows how to climb rock walls and tie your shoelaces into complicated boating knots when you’re not looking. The Aeropress is just that beloved by outdoorsy folks who want a strong brew when they’re slithering up Half Dome, or whatever y’all do [coughs in Marlboro]. It’s lightweight, streamlined, and should probably be on a NASA rocket—but it’s a great gift pick for outdoorsy types, road trippers, and anyone else who needs an on-the-go espresso fix.

They’ll dig Vietnamese coffee if they like a bold flavor profile, low acidity, and a splash of condensed milk. The people at Nguyen Coffee Supply are experts in the craft, and make a superb coffee gift in the phin kit that comes complete with their beans. “It feels elegant and special,” writes one reviewer, “in a world of mid-level mass produced grocery store blends.” You go, Mike.

We’ve all seen this 1966 Italian movie scene: A mod babe awakes to a Mediterranean sunrise, in a house that was once owned by Pierre Cardin, and sips their coffee from an Illy espresso machine while plotting how to kill the nosy neighbor. Naturally, we’re on their side.

Listen, we get it: You’re already awakened to great coffee and you know alllll the tricks. But your dad, who started every day for the last 30 years with a cup of shitty, stale coffee down at the plant, might not. Maybe he’s wide-eyed and stoked after trying your Chemex when he came to visit, or maybe he just had a cup of mind-blowing java when he finally stopped through that new “weird coffee shop” down the street. Either way, the dad in your life—whoever they may be—deserves to get to that next level, and it’s your job to help them.

For a coffee maker that says both “I understand the cultural trajectory of Bauhaus,” and “My bedroom is a massive McDonald's ball pen,” no one can outdo Bodum when it comes to high-quality, color statement bean pressers. 

Despite what your (un)friendly neighborhood barista thinks, not everything about coffee has to be super serious. Case in point: This coffee mug lets you (literally) build out your own vibe. You might not be very creative before you’ve had coffee, but at least this will be on hand as the caffeine starts kicking in.

They have the French presses. They have the moka pots, the drip kits—but do they have the “Big Bertha” of bean grinding, otherwise known as the Barazta? This grinder could power 34 lumberjacks, but your giftee will do. This baby is engineered with commercial-grade conical burrs, meaning you can adjust settings for grinding beans for a Chemex, French press, Aeropress, espresso machine, an automatic brewer, and more.

Workin’ on the highway

The Yeti Rambler is the workhorse travel mug of our dreams. And it’s not only for mountain climbers and characters in Bruce Springsteen songs, either… unless the 20,000 reviewers on Amazon were posting from Mount Everest or Asbury Park, New Jersey. The gift of taking your own coffee anywhere you go isn’t priceless; it’s the price of this mug.

For some, loving coffee goes hand in hand with appreciating Twin Peaks. Why? Not only is coffee arguably a side character in that show, but co-creator David Lynch is obsessed with coffee and even sells his own beans from time to time. If your giftee loves entering that Black Lodge of flavor every morning, give them this sweatshirt to commemorate their two true loves.

Sound the horns, because a De’Longhi espresso machine on promo is a unicorn-like event not to be missed. This is the kind of legendary appliance you buy once in a lifetime—or on a Tuesday if you’re Bill Gates—and right now, it’s marked down a few hundred bucks. It’s an investment piece, for sure, but can you imagine a lifetime of perfect at-home lattes? This isn’t just a gift, it’s a treasure.

Stay juiced, friends. 

The Rec Room staff independently selected all of the stuff featured in this story. Want more reviews, recommendations, and red-hot deals?Sign up for our newsletter.